# Unnamed 4U Computer

Ok so only two people voted[1] on which of the two Dual Pentium Pro
computers should be my next hardware project and they both voted for
this one, so here it is!


## The hardware

* Motherboard - ECS P6FX2A (Produced in 1996)
* CPU(s)      - 2 x Pentium Pro 200mhz (256k Cache)
* RAM         - 256mb 66mhz EDO (512mb max according to manual)
* HDD         - 8gb Lexar CF card connected via IDE to CF adaptor
* Video       - Matrox Millenium 16mb (dual vga output) PCI card
* Network     - Realtek 8139c 100mbit PCI card
* I/O         - 4 port USB 2.0 PCI card, IR and USB 1.1 board headers
* SCSI        - Diamond Fireport 40 PCI card with 9.1gb UW SCSI HDD
* Case        - Generic black 4U server case

On first switching on the machine I was pleased to discover that
there was in fact 256mb of RAM installed! Unfortunately the BIOS
battery reported as being on its last legs, so that was to be my
first job. I have written an article about the CR2032 battery mod[2]
to the Dallas RTC chip, so I won't elaborate on that here. 

On reading the manual I discovered there were headers for both IR and
2 x USB 1.1. Also notable was that the board was capable of taking a
maximum of 512mb of RAM.


## Grouch

So this machine was unnamed but on thinking about it, the last host
name I gave it was 'Grouch', and I'm beginning to remember why! This
thing is quirky beyond all quirkiness. It won't boot from CD, gives
some error 'AX = FF' after beginning to boot. I can't find a modern
linux distro that will get beyond the first stages of trying to boot
a kernel, all result in some kind of kernel panic, something about a
trampoline??? The last operating system I had successfully run on it
was Windows 2000 Pro and from memory I had to install it from floppy!

Anyway, after much mucking about downloading and writing various
linux iso images to a USB thumbdrive, which I had to initialise using
plop[3] from a floppy as the system has no option to boot from USB, I
finally got something to work, NetBSD[4] to the rescue! The USB
install image worked right off the bat, no dramas at all.


## What to do with it?

I have a lot of computer parts which are about the same vintage as
this computer so for starters, I will use it as a test bed for those
components. I can then have a clear out of things I no longer need
and get them listed for sale so they can find new homes with people
in need of them.


## Conclusion

Its fans roar and its SCSI drive wails as it bursts into life. It's 
loud, ponderous and ungainly, a relic of the past.
I can't help but feel satisfaction having extended the life of this 
digital dinosaur. As old and slow as it is, it could still manage 90%
of my daily computing needs...

Old-computer-challenge?[5]

I'm feeling a lot of love for the NetBSD folks right now.


[1](gopher://gopher.icu/1/poll?poll=1676405525)
[2](gopher://gopher.icu/0/phlog/Computing/dallas-ds12887-cr2032-battery-mod.md)
[3](https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html)
[4](https://www.netbsd.org/)
[5](https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2021-07-07-old-computer-challenge.html)